Tourism Month

The United Nations' World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) decided in late September 1979 to institute World Tourism Day, which was first celebrated on September 27, 1980. September 27 was chosen as the date for World Tourism Day because that date coincided with an important milestone in world tourism: the anniversary of the adoption of the UNWTO statutes on September 27, 1970.
The UNWTO believes that the date for World Tourism Day is appropriate because it comes at the end of the high tourist season in the northern hemisphere and the start to the tourist season in the southern hemisphere, when tourism is of tropical interest to many people worldwide, particularly travelers and those working in the tourism sector. Each year has a different theme.

The UNWTO invites people worldwide to participate in World Tourism Day on September 27, every year. The UNWTO Secretary-General annually sends out a message to the general public to mark the occasion. Many tourism enterprises and organisations, as well as government agencies with a special interest in tourism, to celebrate the event with various special events and festivities.

This year, 2014, the theme for Tourism Month is Tourism and Community Development. The theme focuses on the ability of tourism to empower people and provide them with skills to achieve change in their local communities. Looking at the various ways tourism has and still can bring a difference to disadvantaged communities through job creation, poverty alleviation and a fair spread of benefits. The theme also strives to encourage domestic tourism within South Africa, to urge locals to travel their own country and realize what the country has to offer. South African Tourism will place particular emphasis on the campaign "Nothing's More Fun than a Sho't Left", where marketing efforts will be rolled-out to make domestic travel both accessible and affordable for local tourists.

The Minister of Tourism, Derek Hanekom, mentioned in his speech at the launch of the Tourism Month Theme for this year, "The potential of tourism to develop communities is significant". So let's explore our very own paradise right at our doorstep, to open up endless opportunities for more communities to embrace this industry. Send us the tourism month activities and festivities that have taken place or is still to take place, within your area, to lauren.roman@suninternational.com.